Newbie Family Controller Fund

[Para]

djr, shfr26

 

You are more than welcome!

[c4ges]

Let me introduce myself. My name is Chris and I am a relatively new user here. I have been spending a lot of time reading through various topics in the forums. I am amazed by the technical ability and understanding of many of the users here.  I hope to become a contributing member once I learn more about adding motion and sound to a show. Which is a lot more involved than I ever thought, especially when doing it correctly.

I  am married to a wonderful woman named Sue.  We are recently married and have a mixed family with two wonderful girls. Both my wife and I came into our relationship with a daughter.  They are great kids, but with the other parents there are challenges. The holidays tend to be a time where we can truly have fun and enjoy time as a family.  Christmas and New Years is a time where we get to be together more than usual, and it's a time my wife and I cherish. We all love to decorate on Christmas. Not a room inside the house goes untouched.  The kids empty out storage containers and use their own creativity to decorate everything. Every year is different. They are getting to the point where they can help with the outside decorations.

Annually we have a neighborhood family orientated block party right before Christmas. We all get together and set up fire pits outside. We hire a local horse drawn carriage, and cruise the neighborhood signing Christmas carols, drinking hot chocolate and enjoying the  holiday season with friends and family. When we get a decent winter, there is a small hill where all the kids (young and old) spend a lot of time sledding. It's great, everyone has a great time, and the neighborhood gets closer with each year. One of the centerpieces of all of this is the host houses and the winter decorations. There are four houses right in a row that extensively decorate. Everyone has their creative ideas and unique touches they add.

This celebration pulls in a lot of traffic. Not only during the actual block party, but in the weeks before and after. A lot of people drive by to see the lights everyone has set up. I never really noticed until I started decorating. Due to this amount of traffic, I want to continue to grow on that and use it to benefit others. Here in Maine we get decent winters. We
may not always get a ton of snow, but the cold is always consistent. Couple that with a downed economy in a state that already does not have a strong economy, and you get a lot of people who are either homeless,  or can't provide the warmth necessary to keep their family comfortable over the winter.

Me and my wife always look to help others when we can. We always try to particpiate in fundraisers locally, especially for the school and for the food shelters. But two people can only do so much. Which is where this all comes in. I want to help grow this event further, and capitalize on the traffic to benefit homeless and needy by way of donations in the form of clothing and money. There is no need for people to go through this, and we want to do more than our share of helping.

This was the first year we got involved with decorating. Most of my current decorations are hand me downs from my father who lives two houses down, and post Christmas clearance sales. However my creativity is far beyond my means. I am technical and creative guy, with great attention to detail. My wife is a thoughtful, selfless person whom would give anything to help  someone in need. Inspiration from my cousin has driven me to do more. Watching what he has done, and the relationship that he has developed with people whom come to see his show. This has lead me to Light-O-Rama, and helping me explore the possibilities. However even getting a starter package is beyond my means. Then I caught wind of this fund, and found it a pristine opportunity to go above and beyond.

We want to get local recognition for our neighborhoods Christmas spirit, so the words gets out for more people to see. Based on the amount of people I see wanting to see these shows, I believe an automated show will do wonders for the cause and spirit for the holidays. Coupled with my love to decorate with Christmas lights, each season will be a truly memorable time.

We want to extend our decorating to Fourth of July too. This is another time of year that deserves a big celebration. We have not planned out very much for this, but are looking forward to a simple set-up for this coming 4th.

Please consider me for the Newbie Fund. I am defaintely a Newbie and have a lot to learn, but am eager to learn and contribute! Thanks For Reading!

The Forgues Family

 

 

 

[litnup]

Hello, My name is Jason and I am the Activities Director fo a Nursing Home in Ohio......over the past 2 years O have used Gemmy Light Show in a Box and the residents loved it so much, I decorate out outdooor courtyard with lights for all holidays and the residents and families love to watch them when the sun goes down. Well all that worked fine but this year I have just upgraded to LOR and sold my Gemmy to purchase the 16 channel controller and I have a budget to work in and i have to buy other things besides lights and sequences for the residents. I know I am not a family with kids, but I am in a family with 90 senior citizens who look forward to my light displays.......So please accept my fund request.......any questions please email me at jtucker@greenmeadowscarecenter.com or call me at 330-875-1456.........Thanks so Much

[LightsinMaine]

Welcome to the group Chris, great family pic!! It would be a very noble idea to collect for homeless and those in need!

[Herbaclaus]

Hi Chris!

 

Great looking family! Welcome to the club. Thanks for sharing your story with us.

[RickAbel43]

Hi Everyone

 

Well about my Family , I am a 42 year old father of three kids they are Brandon 8 , Jessica 7 and Hannah 6 they are my pride and joy.. They are the reason why i put all my faith and heart into last year beating Lung Cancer , I had two of the bottom Lobs removed and right now i am doing good 5 months after having them removed....

 

  I started out my christmas display about 4 years ago after my Father passed away , It was my father as far back as i can remember always set up lights , he may have only had  maybe 3000 lights on the front of the house but that was his favorite time of the year, So after his passing i took it up and started out the first year with arounf 4000 lights that just stayed on all the time...The second year i added a Mr Christmas 6 channel system to them along with around 2000 led lights, which i got alot of looks and that made me feel so good and thats where it took a turn i wanted to do more...3rd year i added another Mr Christmas machine and about 3000 more led lights after christmas sale you cant beat the prices if you have the funds to do so.....The 3rd year i collected over 300.00 and about 130 lbs in food for the homeless shelter...4th year this past year i was running arounf 11000 thousand lights mostly led lights , A few of my neighbors gave me alot of lights after the 3rd year display that they bought after christmas to make the display better for this year.. The best thing about this past year is that my two oldest children helped me put up lights and hook up and all and my son even trys different setups on the Visualizer and he is doing good always trying different things and turns and tells daddy lets do it like this daddy and that warms my heart up seeing him get into it as much as feel i want to...This past year was Hard on me after the operation just 2 months before and my kids scene that and wanted to help somuch on it , It took alot longer to set up than it took the past years because i was out of breath after maybe an hour or two but i got out there with the kids every day for around a week to do it after thanksgiving....We also collected close to 550 this year in cash and over 300 pounds of food for the Homeless center....I also want to Thank everyone that has helped me this past year on how to sequence andeverything that alot has helped me with.....

   I have the Basic program for LOR already and i really wanted to  32 channels this year but now i may only beable to a 16 channel system if everything goes right ....

How can i take picture of the family from my picture folder and put it on here?

Thankyou in advance if i am picked for anything thatyou and God Bless everyone...

The Abel Family

Hi Everyone

 

Well about my Family , I am a 42 year old father of three kids they are Brandon 8 , Jessica 7 and Hannah 6 they are my pride and joy.. They are the reason why i put all my faith and heart into last year beating Lung Cancer , I had two of the bottom Lobs removed and right now i am doing good 5 months after having them removed....

 

  I started out my christmas display about 4 years ago after my Father passed away , It was my father as far back as i can remember always set up lights , he may have only had  maybe 3000 lights on the front of the house but that was his favorite time of the year, So after his passing i took it up and started out the first year with arounf 4000 lights that just stayed on all the time...The second year i added a Mr Christmas 6 channel system to them along with around 2000 led lights, which i got alot of looks and that made me feel so good and thats where it took a turn i wanted to do more...3rd year i added another Mr Christmas machine and about 3000 more led lights after christmas sale you cant beat the prices if you have the funds to do so.....The 3rd year i collected over 300.00 and about 130 lbs in food for the homeless shelter...4th year this past year i was running arounf 11000 thousand lights mostly led lights , A few of my neighbors gave me alot of lights after the 3rd year display that they bought after christmas to make the display better for this year.. The best thing about this past year is that my two oldest children helped me put up lights and hook up and all and my son even trys different setups on the Visualizer and he is doing good always trying different things and turns and tells daddy lets do it like this daddy and that warms my heart up seeing him get into it as much as feel i want to...This past year was Hard on me after the operation just 2 months before and my kids scene that and wanted to help somuch on it , It took alot longer to set up than it took the past years because i was out of breath after maybe an hour or two but i got out there with the kids every day for around a week to do it after thanksgiving....We also collected close to 550 this year in cash and over 300 pounds of food for the Homeless center....I also want to Thank everyone that has helped me this past year on how to sequence andeverything that alot has helped me with.....

   I have the Basic program for LOR already and i really wanted to  32 channels this year but now i may only beable to a 16 channel system if everything goes right ....

How can i take picture of the family from my picture folder and put it on here?

Thankyou in advance if i am picked for anything thatyou and God Bless everyone...

The Abel Family

 

Cant seem to get a picture on here

[Bizywk]

I thought I'd say hello everyone. This is a pretty spectacular effort you've been running, and I'm quite amazed. It's great to see folks committed to not only furthering their hobby, but also taking positive action to help others undertake the leap as well. Well done.

 

Our family is about to embark on our first display in the fall of 2013 and we can't be more excited. We used to have a big display up in Fort Wayne, Indiana and found out one day as we were talking to other families at the school, that people were giving directions using "The house with all the lights" as a landmark, not knowing it was our house. I knew the kids absolutely loved them, but thats when I realized how much others appreciated the effort even when we didnt often hear from them directly. We havent been able to put up a light show for a while because Uncle Sam has had me hopping around a bit for the last several years, but this year is the one - we're taking the plunge into animated light displays after several years of study and planning. We want to stir things up a bit in our neighborhood infested with Bah Humbugs and bring back the Christmas Spirit so we're hoping to go BIG!  I wound up missing out on quite a bit of time with my son while overseas and away due to my job, so I've been trying to find ways to reconnect with him, and also want to teach him about electricity and electronics which has always been a huge part of my life since my Dad pulled me in to rewire a lamp at age 5 and then rewire the house at age 6. My father's childhood train set was how I kept my electronic education going, but that same train, now four generations old, didn't interest my son much, so I'm hoping I can leverage him into some common ground through lights. The picture below is a few years old now, but its my favorite one of all, and hearkens back to some of our best family memories.

 

Good Luck in your displays this year, and I hope you folks forever feel the first year excitement!   Merry Christmas!

 

 

[jabuzzz]

Hi,

 

I'm Jared and I've been reading posts on here for a while, but haven't commented before. I started my little static light display several years ago with just a few strands of lights and it's just grown from there.  I upgraded to a tweaked Mr. Christmas box that allows the lights to flash to the music, but that's as far as I've gotten. 

 

My wife and I have two children, a 12 year old son, and a 2 year old daughter that both really love the lights. A year before our daughter was born, we experienced a devastating loss on Mother's Day when we found out our son would be stillborn at 32 weeks.  We debated taking the year off from decorating our home, but decided that it would bring so much joy to our son and the local families that look forward to driving by each year, so we pulled together and did it. On my days off, I worked constantly to get the display finished in time. It helped to keep things routine in our lives and brought a little happiness to our holiday season.

 

Even though our 12 year old has Cerebral Palsy, which has affected his muscles, he loves going outside with me to help untangle the light strands and hand me the lights. He's become quite the little helper over the last few years, and we are so proud of the progess he has made.  He would have never been able to help me with these tasks a few years ago, if it wasn't for all the physical therapy he endures. 

 

Well, that's our little story! 

 

We have had the exact same display for the last 6 years, because we are so limited with the Mr. Christmas box. We would love to upgrade to a LOR system this year to bring our display to the next level and bring more joy to the local children that eagerly look forward to driving by our home at Christmas time. Thanks for reading and I hope you'll consider us for the newbie fund.  It's nice to "meet" all of you!

 

My pride and joy:

 

 

 

My 2012 display:

[Kendall Walker]

Hello, my name is Kendall I am married with 2 boys (10&11). I have been putting up a static display for 12 years now. I have been trying to expand it each year. The last to years were bad year’s with my wife being sick and in and out of the hospital. See spent the whole holiday’s of 2011 in the hospital. I still managed to put of some of my display for the boy’s though. Now that hopefully we have gotten her out of the woods and back in good health I am planning to try to get back on track and expand to the flashing world of lights. I have been reading all the forum’s on here for 3 month’s now. In addition, I am really looking forward to moving up to flashing lights this year. My oldest son is even helping me try to sequence a song to lights. Therefore, any help or advice will greatly be appreciated, and I want to Thank You All for everything you do here on this forum. 

[Dad02]

Paypal sent.

[missieod]

Is it too late to make a donation to the newbie fund?  Once they unfreeze my account, I want to send some money.  Getting selected last year was great and I want to pay it forward if its not too late.

[ItsMeBobO]

Yes the fund is still open for donations and newbie families.   It will be closed when the Summer sale is announced. 

[missieod]

Great- $ is on its way!

[greywolf]

i just want to wish  everyone who has entered and to those  who have  donated to the fund a very merry season 

and good luck 

 

things are looking up and falling into place for us

hopefully this summer 

my family and i will be moving soon

we been looking forward to this move to texas

new place new town and with a little luck :... new equipment for the display this season

 

good luck everyone     

grey

[ebrown1972]

This is my story. My name is Eric and I am married with three children. I met my wife, Natasha, in 2003. She had two girls from a prior relationship when I met her. At the time I had no children. In 2005 I Married Natasha and adopted her two children. Their names are Shyanne and Elizabeth. They have been in my life since the youngest was 1 1/2 years old. I have always treated the girls as if they were my own. After several years of trying and after a tubal ligation reversal surgery my wife became pregnant with my son, Ethaniel. He was born in 2009 and I consider him a miracle birth and a gift from God. I feel very blessed everyday to have the family that I have.

     I have always decorated my house at Christmas time. Its always been a way for me to get away from the daily stress of being a police detective. My job at times is very stressful and decorating helps me take my mind off of things and appreciate the simpler things that life has to offer. In October of 2012 I decided to buy a Mr Christmas lights and sound controller. Although it seeemed to  be just what I needed it ended up under my tree controlling the lights on my Christmas tree. With in 2 days of receiving the Mr Christmas I opted to buy one LOR 16 channel controller. I am glad  I did. I had a blast setting up my house this past year. I remember 2 weeks after Halloween turning on all of my lights for the first time to do a test run of my display. As I was standing outside cars were stopping in front of my house watching the lights. It really gave me a great feeling inside. I only had a total of 16 channels in my display but my home was voted as the best decorated house in my town of 10,000 people. It made several people happy. I plan to one day expand my display and turn it into a fund raiser for a needy organization or possibly the Shop with a cop program. I have talked to my local church and have been granted permission to build a display there. The church has three large empty lots. But as most of us know this hobby is not the cheapest thing to do. If I am selected as one of the people to receive a controller it will be put to good use and for a good cause at my local church. Thanks for considering me and God bless! He is the reason we even have the thought of doing lights at Christmas time anyway!!!!!!!!

[ebrown1972]

Sorry, I could not quite figure out how to get a picture posted on here. It said I did not have permission to post a picture.

[ebrown1972]

 

 

I got it figured out. This is a pic of my 3 children.

[xmaskarl]

Hi, This is Karl Whittington.  I do not currently have any type of light controller..  I would like to produce a Halloween and Christmas show for our low income neighborhood.  Although I do  not have kids myself.  My neighborhood has quite a few children that would really enjoy the shows.  Most of the families are low income.  I know that during HalloweenI get a lot of the younger, 3 to 12 year olds in the area coming by my static Halloween display.  At Christmas I currently do a static display of approximately 1000 lights. 

[MonstrousMike]

What an awesome idea! I just sent some $$$ to the fund. Thank you for coming up with a creative way to help newbies get started!

[nonamefril]

Here is  my entry for the contest

My names Rodney and my wife JJ were from Dublin,Ga...Im new to blinky flashy but kind of not....I got intereted about 3 years ago by my brother in law but it was for DIY blinky flashy.He kind of showed me it for something to pass the time,from my injury.I was hurt back in Feb 2009 going to Afgahnastan.Im a WWP alumni from my spinal injuries and TBI.I kind of dont wanna put this cause I read through each story on here and thought several people were more deserving,I guess I just put it up for the sake of it being a contest.I bought a used LOR 16 channel and have a little bit of everything as far as controllers,Ive never put it up.Ive played around with it in the house and just put plain old lights up every year.This year I wanna change that and finally install it all.I have one child from my first marriage but my new marriage I dont have any,also I got a nephew.I do have 4 cats and 7 dogs which are basically my all the time kids.With that being said ID like to say Semper Fi to my fellow Marines and Hooah to my fellow Army soliders.....I spent 8 years with the Marines and jumped ship to the Army and Im on my 7th year going through a medical board.Also Im a newb but Id like to donate to this fund just to help another member out to who ever wins.